President of Serbia Aleksandar Vučić issued a new public invitation to students and all interested parties for dialogue, stressing that he is ready to talk at any moment, but with the condition - that the conversation is conducted only with those who have a first and last name.
"The call for dialogue is not a fad, it is not a trick. It is the essence of democracy... no matter how bad I am in the world, I am the president of this country, and probably for a long time, someone else will not be elected with such a difference and dominance," Vučić said. for the umpteenth time.
In fact, he allegedly counted his calls himself, so he added that, in the past 15 months, he sent a total of 154 public calls to talk to political opponents and anyone who thinks differently.
Photo: Marko Dragoslavić/FoNetOne of the student protests
President of compromise
Political scientist Dejan Bursać told "Vreme" that Vučić constantly invites students to dialogue because he needs it in order to present himself to his voters as a leader who is ready to compromise, as a man of stability and a person who is supposedly for democracy.
"With these calls, he counters all those narratives that we really know are happening towards the student movement - from insults, tabloid attacks, arrests, beatings, threats and everything we know is done by the institutions that are under the control of SNS and its informal leader, President Vučić," Bursać told "Vreme". "His need is two-fold, and both are aimed at his constituents."
Vučić calls for dialogue: Vision versus hallucination
Text in the British "Telegraph"
One of the articles in the British "Telegraph" refers to another goal of Vučić's, which is to send a message to the international community, to present himself in conversations with them as someone who wants to solve everything, while the other side is the one who is unreasonable and who does not want to cooperate.
"We see it when some articles praise President Vučić, most likely paid," Bursać adds. "Recently, a completely strange article appeared in the British 'Telegraph' that blames many facts, in which the journalist brags about how he had access to SNS and its surveys, so it is clear from which side the information comes to him. In that text, for example, it is mentioned that the president invited students to a dialogue, and they refused. This has a marketing need."
Prisoner's dilemma
It is absolutely clear why students should not accept such a dialogue in which they would lose part of their credibility, according to the political scientist.
"It's a kind of prisoner's dilemma or dark vilayet. You are being called for a dialogue by a person who used extreme violence against you and whose back you want to see, whom you believe has turned this country into a criminalized autocracy," says Bursać.
Vucic, he adds, is trying to abuse the fact that they are students for democracy, although we all know that this is just manipulation. That is why he believes that the student movement should continue to keep its distance from the regime and not fall for such baits.
Aleksandar Vučić's invitation to dialogue: Everything (un)seen already
Opposition on invitations
Pavle Grbović, president and deputy of the Movement of Free Citizens, recalls in an interview with "Danas" that each of those 154 "calls" was accompanied by several times more insults and accusations, which speaks volumes about the sincerity of the calls themselves.
"It is extremely illogical for Vučić to say in the same sentence that he wanted to share with us certain knowledge about important topics about which he could not speak publicly, and then accuse the opposition of working for the interests of other countries. The question arises whether in that situation the president is lying, or is he so naive that he would serve confidential information to foreign services," Grbović asks.
Co-president and MP of the Green-Left Front Radomir Lazović points out that he would be happy to respond to the invitation of a president who adheres to constitutional powers and works in the interest of citizens and for citizens.
Photo: Marija JankovićRadomir Lazovic
"I hope that we will soon replace this criminal government, so that instead of the head of a criminal group, in the position of president we have someone who adheres to his constitutional powers and works in the interests of citizens and for citizens. Someone who does not organize beatings or arrests of unsuitable people, someone whose day does not start with a new flood of lies, someone who does not rig elections or control the media, someone whose main goal is not to enrich themselves through the backs of citizens. I would be happy to respond to the call of such a president, even if we have differences and disagreements about future of Serbia", Lazović states.
Stefan Janjić, deputy of the Serbia Center SRCE party, says that the president's claim that he invited the opposition to dialogue "154 times" cannot be viewed in isolation from the context in which that dialogue is allegedly offered.
"In the legal and political sense, dialogue implies a minimum of trust in institutions and respect for the constitutional order. In a situation where the Constitution is continuously violated, and institutions are systematically rendered meaningless, the opposition's refusal to participate in such a dialogue is not a sign of irresponsibility, but a politically and legally rational position," explains Janjić.
